Title - Damage to railway track delays NMR

Passengers who boarded The Nilgiris Mountain Railway (NMR) at Mettupalayam on Sunday morning reached Coonoor Railway Station after a three-hour delay.

According to railway sources, the fall of a boulder on a stretch of the railway track near the Hill Grove Railway Station and the consequent damage to the track forced the loco pilot to stop the vehicle at the station.

The train left the Mettupalayam Railway Station around 7.30 a.m. to reach the Hill Grove station around 8.45 a.m.

The train remained there for two hours after the department staff alerted the authorities concerned that the track at the stretch, which included a bridge, was damaged. The damaged portion measured around four feet, the sources said and added that the rack and pinion system was also damaged.

After a near-three-hour wait, the train left the Hill Grove station to reach Coonoor around 1.30 p.m.

As per the original schedule, the train ought to have reached Coonoor by 10.30 a.m. The repair took around two-and-a-half hours.

The track was susceptible to damage by falling boulders and landslides. It may be recalled that on Saturday, the Udhagamandalam — Mettupalayam NMR service was also disrupted.

An NMR loco hauling goods wagons suffered a rod break in the loco and it ran berserk and the loco pilot had to bring the train to a halt by stopping the steam.